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i too menu plan and try to save money at the grocery store. however, i feel so clueless as to how you are able to spend only $400 a month on food! so, my question is this….in your grocery budget do you also include things like paper towels, toilet paper, cleaners, laudry soap, etc? we spend not quite, but close to twice as much a month as you do at our “grocery” store, but it includes everything from soap to toilet paper and trash bags. also, do you eat out and does that come from your grocery money?

Hi Tracy! You can read all the details of how I spend so little in my free e-book Save More, Clip Less: https://thepeacefulmom.com/2011/08/19/free-e-book-save-more-clip-less/. The $400 amount does not include non-food items (I spend between $25 and $40 a month.), but it does include all of our food for the week. We rarely eat out (about once or twice a year as a family, and occasionally for dates when we have a coupon and can spend less than $20 total).

My basic strategy is to stock up on items when they are on sale so I am buying most items at the lowest possible price. Hope this helps. 🙂

Here is my big budget question: We spend $80 a week on food for our family of four, including t.p. and detergents. But what do you do when a grocery store has a mega deal on staples? Do you spend some of the next weeks money in advance so you get something on sale? Or do you only buy what you need for the week? I hate to pass up extreme deals on products I know we use monthly.

So my question is for a beginner on this journey….how do you know what is a “great” deal or what are the loss leaders at your store. I have quite a stock of HBA items but am still trying to figure out how to get my grocery budget down for my family of 4 plus a few daycare kids.

There are two methods you can use Kelly. The best way is to keep a price book in which you note the prices of items in your area for different stores. You can do this on a spreadsheet using your receipts or write it in a notebook as you shop. It takes time, so if you don’t want to do that you can use a site like CouponMom.com. She lists the sales for stores all over the country each week as well as the percentage off. This post is about saving money when you’re single, but it has a great explanation of how I save on groceries. Let me know if you have other questions.

I would like to know what cheese toast is? 🙂 And, some of your lunch and dinner meals sound like so little… how do you help your family fill their tummies and not ask for seconds? Like, the berry smoothie and popcorn. There is NO way my daughter would get through that and not ask for more! haha

Hi Jennifer! To make cheese toast, I toast bread in the toaster and melt either sliced or shredded cheese on top of it. You can melt it in the microwave or in the oven under the broiler, but you have to watch it if you use the broiler because it will burn very quickly. You can just put the cheese on top of the bread and put it under the broiler, but only one side of the bread is toasted.

As far as the smoothie, I usually have this on a day when we have had something like eggs for breakfast. If they are still hungry, they can have more popcorn or make a peanut butter sandwich. It’s surprising how filling the smoothie is when you add yogurt to it. We also use real butter on the popcorn and fat helps to satiate hunger.

Also, I am not suggesting that anyone needs to eat the way we do necessarily, just showing what we do. If you can use some of the ideas, great. You should definitely do what works for your family. 🙂

Thanks! We tried eating less last night and it went better than expected 🙂 We made double Patty turkey burgers with cheese and homemade French fries cooked in coconut oil. And NO dessert or late night snacks. This morning, I actually don’t feel bloated! My daughter asked for crackers at bedtime, but I explained that we did have plenty of dinner and she would feel better if she’d just go to sleep. She did. 🙂 Thank you for your encouragement!

You are very welcome Jennifer. Just to clarify for anyone reading, I do not want my kids to go hungry, but sometimes they confuse boredom or tiredness for hunger. I think it’s important to teach them the difference. 🙂

You’re so right! My daughter does that at times… either the bored “I’m hungry”- during summer break especially, or right at bedtime when she’s up a little too late. That’s When I remind her that she’d feel better after getting the sleep she needs. I think our family also has it stuck in our heads that we always have to have 3 items on our dinner plates, and that’s not always true. We’re working on that and you’re definitely helping! 😉

A few years ago, we had some serious belt-tightening to do, and I was happy to find NPR’s segment “How Low can you go?” for meals under $10. The tomato pie, and garbanzos with spinach (in particular!) have become staples at our house (minus the saffron in the garbanzos, since it gets more expensive at that point). I’ve also been doing lots of homemade hummus with pitas and tomatoes and cucumber (super affordble!!!), and lots of homemade pesto pasta with cubed cheese cut in. Very inexpensive, fresh, delicious, and kid-friendly!

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